Some of the major challenges in meteorological training are to help forecasters to:
How might games be helpful in addressing these topics? Please imagine one or two examples and describe them in your post.
Here is my experience with teaching and games: I was trying to explain mid-latitude cyclone and frontal systems to future pilots, using diagrams. After that I brought some children's molding clay and told them to make 3D model of cold, warm and occluded front, and to point where the jet stream is. They had most wonderful time getting their hands dirty. They did not take their meteorology test yet, so I am not sure if they learned something from this :)
I am very interested in games explaining more complex 3D concepts, and hopefully I will find them in this challenge.
Best regards,
Tamara
It is great to hear of your experiences with games Tamara! What a great way to use molding clay!
At COMET, we use molding clay to help forecasters create a 3D model of what they see in observations (water vapor imagery). We also ask them to create a 3D model of what they see in the numerical; model forecast then compare the two. Over the course of two weeks, the forecasters improve their ability to create 3D models by increasing the level of detail and decreasing the amount of time for making their clay models. Forecasters are often surprised at how difficult it is to make a 3D model out of the numerical guidance.
We also to ask them to draw soundings for various parts of 3D clay model they have created. This helps them connect meteorological principles to things they are seeing in observations.
Tsvet
I can imagine a game in which you have a major disaster threatening your community, and you need to make quick decisions to avoid a catastrophy. It could be, for example , a flood coming your way - or a major forest fire. The game could help us making really some decisions.
Great idea Vesa!
During our session, I will share with the participants a very similar game in which players review ensemble data and decide what level of preparation they will initiate. Then they have to "deal" with the game consequences of their decisions. :)
Practicing preparation for a major disaster through games is a very "safe" way to gain a measure of experience with something that may not occur often.
Tsvet
The first thing that came to my mind is role play for the communication with the decision-makers and public. I know, I know, it is easy and very routine but still very effective. And it is very exciting to imagine yourself making briefing to media or aviation authorities :-))
The second thought was about badges like “The best Weather Man (Woman) of the Day” for the trainees.
For the visualization is the 3D Conceptual Models are the best, especially if they are in the form of animation. Yes, it is not real gamification, but what about making a simple flash game – “Find the right place for tornado”? And the badge again “Sherlock The Weather Holms” or something like this..
About probabilistic guidance? For me they are still the mystery :-)
Simulators! It is a game (very serious game) and a good game either for using guidance or for public communication. And I like them :-))
Thanks for sharing your ideas Larisa!
If the communication exercises are becoming routine, you could increase the challenge by talking with the "decision-making" actors ahead of time and giving them challenging questions to ask of the briefing meteorologist. You could also give each actor a piece of the communication puzzle that the main player has to discover by talking to other meteorologists or decision-makers. I have observed simulations with such modifications, and the learners reported feeling as much tension and concentration as if the event was real.
Great idea on creating 3D animations and asking people to place where a tornado will form, or the heaviest precipitation will occur, etc.
If you participate in the third challenge you will get a small glimpse of probabilistic guidance and how it could be used in a game. I plan to share with those who come to the live session an example of a game in which players use probabilistic guidance for decision-making.
Great thinking about the use of badges too!
Tsvet
I really liked Vesa's idea!
Developing a game where you can build collaboration (teamwork) would be very appealing to students. Building that into a simulator as Larisa mentioned would be an effective approach.
I can imagine a game where the objective is to improve our forecasting of heavy rain in a region that is known to be a huge challenge. Similar to a board game, the student collects points for correct answers and must collect (prognostic or diagnostic) tools along the way in order to forecast such an event. Then if they collect enough points they go to the final level, forecasting in simulator-type environment. Contrast this to a subject matter expert standing up in a room full of forecasters and telling them this is a problem area, remember to do this, this and that when you are on the desk...
Brad
Yes! We should be able to create a game like that.
Tsvet
This one is a little bit like cheating, because I have discussed it with other trainers before, but we never succeeded in implementing it fully. It is also a little bit like Vesa's idea.
In this game, there is an approaching tropical cyclone, and you have to make decisions about evacuation of specific parts of the coastal regions, based on storm surge information and wind forecasts. The challenge is similar to other simulations, weighing the costs of evacuation and closing of facilities with the risks to human life and damage to property, considering on the uncertainties of the forecast of the cyclone evolution and path.
You could do similar games on longer time scales based on seasonal climate predictions and the decisions that need to be made by various industries, like agriculture and energy.
On shorter time scales, what about the prediction of convective storm morphology based on the atmospheric conditions. You have one minute to forecast location and severity of the storm in the next hour, for example. Who do you warn, and how severe is your warning?
Come to think of it, these are not so much games as just case study activities. When do they become games?
Patrick
Great ideas Patrick!
In the live session, I will share one possible implementation of the tropical cyclone game you mentioned. This one is for winter weather. :) It can easily be adapted. I was going to suggest an adapted version of the game to the Weather Service's tropical training team. You have encouraged me to do that. Thanks!
We could create similar games for using climate data in making agriculture decisions for the next season. The energy sector and water resource managers could use them too.
The shorter timeframe games could also be great and very fast paced and intense. We can connect them to specific learning objectives and then have players compete against time and chance, and show them the consequences of their choices (in a limited way).
Including elements like saving lives through preparedness, a well-crafted gameplay, competition/collaboration, fantasy, and a bit of entertainment (like an engaging story that makes you care about the characters you are trying to save) will move our case studies closer to the game end of the spectrum.
Tsvet
Great ideas!
I really like the "Boss battles for higher levels of learning". It conveys the amount of work and perseverance that is required in order to learn.
It is possible to develop something like StarCraft or League Legends for forecasters but perhaps the game goals will be a bit removed from immediate meteorological knowledge. Forecasters could review weather data and decide where to deploy a team of observers to provide early warning. If the team is in the wrong place, there will little warning and infrastructure will be damaged.
Tsvet